Machine Guns & Automatic Firearms in Louisiana

Last updated October 12, 2018.

Louisiana law prohibits the sale, transport, purchase and possession of a machine gun, with few exceptions.1 The law also prohibits any merchant or manufacturer from permitting any machine gun to pass from his or her possession to the possession of any person unless the person falls within one of the exceptions.2 Every manufacturer or merchant must keep a register of all machine guns manufactured or handled by him, which must include the: 1) date of the sale, loan, gift, delivery, or receipt of any machine gun; 2) name, address, and occupation of the person to whom the machine gun was sold, loaned, given, or delivered, or from whom it was received; and 3) purpose for which the person, to whom the machine gun was sold, loaned, given, or delivered, purchased, or obtained it.3

Federal law requires machine guns to be registered with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives (ATF), and generally prohibits the transfer or possession of machine guns manufactured after May 19, 1986.4 In December 2018, ATF finalized a rule to include bump stocks within the definition of a machine gun subject to this federal law, meaning that bump stocks will be generally banned as of March 26, 2019.5

Notes

Exceptions exist for law enforcement, the military, persons possessing war relics for exhibition in parades, security guards and their employers, merchants keeping machine guns as merchandise, and common carriers. La. Rev. Stat. § 40:1752. “Machine gun” includes “all firearms of any caliber, commonly known as machine rifles, machine guns, and sub-machine guns, capable of automatically discharging more than eight cartridges successively without reloading, in which the ammunition is fed to the gun from or by means of clips, disks, belts, or some other separable mechanical device.” La. Rev. Stat. § 40:1751. ⤴︎

The law also prohibits any merchant or manufacturer from permitting any machine gun to pass from his or her possession to the possession of any person other than: (a) a manufacturer or a merchant; (b) a common carrier for shipment to a manufacturer or merchant; (c) a duly authorized agent of the government of the U.S. or Louisiana, acting in his or her official capacity; or (d) a person authorized to purchase a machine gun under the provisions of paragraphs (1) and (4) of Louisiana’s Statutes Section 40:1752, if the person presents a written permit to purchase and possess a machine gun, signed by the sheriff of the parish in which the manufacturer or merchant has his place of business or delivers the machine gun. La. Rev. Stat. § 40:1753. ⤴︎